Southern by the grace of cornbread!

Now cornbread has become known as something distinctly “Southron”, but appears to have origins with the Native People of what is now the southeastern U.S. (references vary, but among those suggested as originators are the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, or Creek peoples). I don’t think folks give much of a thought to the history that far back, which is a shame, but, that’s another story for another time.

I’ll tell you up front, I like my cornbread just fine, but prefer it made with a little sugar (and yes, I still make it in a cast-iron skillet… a well-seasoned skillet at that… going back, at least, to my great grandmother). Yes, I know, some folks think that by adding sugar, cornbread just isn’t Southern. Well, sorry, but I disagree. The basic recipe is the same, but I just add sugar. It’s a branch-off from the original, but at it’s core, it’s still Southern.

Actually, this debate over cornbread reminds me of the debate behind the interpretations of what is and what is not Southern, in relation to the American Civil War. Frankly, the South was the South before the Civil War. The culture that was that of the South was not made by the war, but existed before. As the war came around, Southern culture saw splintering over politics and perceptions of where things stood with them and their affiliation with the Union. Some reasons seem clean enough, but some aren’t so pretty for denying that affiliation. Still, I guess you could say that the “Confederate branch” is not that different from the way sugar is added to cornbread. It’s another interpretation of part of the story of being Southern, but it isn’t THE story of being Southern. In fact, that “branch” is no different than the other branches… namely those associated with Southern Unionists, free blacks, slaves, Native People, “leave-aloners”, etc. At the core, most of these people had been Southern first, but their preference in flavor differed. Alas, they were human!

So, why is it that “Southern”, “Southern heritage”, and “Southern culture” are being hijacked by Confederate celebrationists? Sure, all that’s a part of the Confederate story, but so too is it part of the story of all the others I just mentioned…once again… Southern Unionists, free blacks, slaves, Native People, “leave-aloners”, etc. So, are they telling us, as Southerners, that if we don’t embrace our Confederate heritage… and in the way that they suggest we embrace it… we are not real Southerners? Shall we also shun all that which is Southern, but not Confederate?

Personally, I savor the differences in Southern heritage. Each element has a distinct flavor, but I don’t deny, at the core, the Southerness of the overall product… food or culture.

The South and the Southern story is so much richer for its diversity.

Well, all this writing has made me hungry.

As much as I’d like to share the cornbread fresh out of my oven, there just isn’t enough to go around.

So, in the spirit of Southern hospitality, I don’t want to send you on your way without giving you something. Here’s what I have for you…

This little piece is something I grabbed from the Page Courier (Luray, Va.), from January 26, 1893. Enjoy, and please keep in mind while reading what I’ve said… and that this piece does come from a very different time than today…

The Virginia receipt for making the corncake is after this wise: For a family of six persons to four well beaten fresh eggs, add one pint of buttermilk or unskimmed clabber (otherwise known as loppered milk or the natural sour curd) in which are dissolved one teaspoonful of soda as much cornmeal as will make a batter that will pour easily, and a scant tablespoonful of lard heated to the boiling point, a sufficiency of salt having been thrown into the meal before mixing, it being remembered that salt is an essential in all corn breads, beat quickly and thoroughly, taking care that all lumps are mashed; pour into a well-greased pan and bake in a quick oven from twenty to thirty minutes, or until the crust is of a rich dark brown; turn out from the pan and serve hot, cutting in squares or wedges, as the shape of the pan may suggest; split and butter. Or this cake may be baked in small patty pans. It is eaten at breakfast.

A favorite bread for the mid-morning luncheon, taken in the summer by Southern families who have dinner at the inconvenient hour of 3 o’clock in the afternoon, is what is known as ‘risen corn bread.’ This is made up the evening previous with hot water. The dough undergoes a process of gentle fermentation, and when baked is slightly sweet to the taste. It generally appears in small oval pones, and these split while hot, buttered cooled on ice make a delicate and wholesome repast.

A popular but homely bread for the evening meal in Virginia is what is called ‘scratch-back,’ from the roughness of its surface. It is of white cornmeal, make up with milk and eggs and a little melted lard into a dough which is moderately stiff and is dropped from a large iron spoon to fall as it may in a well heated and meal-dusted pan, thrust into a quick oven and baked brown.

To be enjoyable ‘scratch-backs’ must be split, buttered and eaten while steaming hot, as chilling or coloring impairs the richness of their flavor. A buttered ‘scratch-back,’ with a cup of milk, is frequently the Southern schoolboy’s supper.

Cornmeal griddle cakes, or ‘flapjacks,’ made up with milk and eggs, are esteemed a delicacy by invalids at the South, and taken with tea by convalescents, are regarded as safe and nutritious.

In former times – and doubtless at the present – the pork-killing season in Virginia was accentuated by a ‘crackling pone’ for the negroes’ supper. This was a great loaf made of cornmeal, enriched with the residium from frying out lard. To the colored helpers the ‘hog killin’ would have been sadly lacking in completeness of enjoyment without the ‘crackling pone’ to soothe or disturb their midnight digestion.

These are some of the many cakes made of cornmeal in Virginia. It will be observed that in none of them is sugar used. There are cornmeal puddings served with sweet sauces, but no Southern cook would risk the spoiling of her corn breads by sweetening them.”

*How about that last line… whoever wrote this didn’t think much of sugar in combination with cornmeal either. Ha!

**… and yes, I did make that cornbread you see in the picture above, while I was writing this!

I actually had my girlfriend who +loves+ Southern cooking put a can of creamed corn into my cornbread one night…
It has a strange texture and different, yet not unpleasent taste.
It is not recommended for purists; however, those willing to think a little outside might enjoy it.

Cornbread made in an iron skillet is definitely a great addition to supper. . My grandfather can hardly have a meal without asking “where’s the cornbread?” I’m sure my grandmother learned to make it from her mom.

After supper, though, my grandfather likes to take leftover cornmeal and put it in a glass of milk (usually buttermilk) and eat it. That just strikes me as completely unappetizing.

However, to get my mind off of cornbread, something serious–
I am curious as to how, as a native Southerner, you think that the popular perception of Southern culture was hijacked–if you will–by the Confederate stand of memory? Growing up in the North, I brushed off a lot of pro-Confederate trappings down in Dixie to “Southern culture” writ large. Now, after reading and researching more, including on your blog, I see the tremendous diversity in Southern thought at the time of the war. Unfortunately, I think these stories will take a while to penetrate the popular memory so that Americans stop seeing the South as some neo-Confederate monolith like many Northerners and Westerners (and even other Southerners) are inclined to do.

Between the legacy of the Lost Cause, and the rhetoric so commonly used by contemporary Confederate celebrationist groups, so much of that awareness of a more diverse South has been consumed in the muddle. That said, I agree that common stereotypes (the South as perceived by Northerners, fir example) don’t help make things any better.

No doubt, this all makes for a tremendous uphill battle for balance. Essentially, we have to be satisfied with the little victories. Now, when I say “victories”, that’s not to suggest abandoning the “good and loyal Confederate” element or overriding it with all of the other angles. “Victories” should be understood as getting more people to acknowledge each and every element of the CW era South, and appreciating each as integral parts of Southern heritage, as identified to the war.

Hope that all makes sense. I’m writing this with my Droid, during lunch. If I didn’t quite answer your question, I can revisit it later. Just let me know.

Thanks. That makes sense to me. It is amazing how much the Lost Cause mythology has distorted Civil War-era history and gripped the (white) American imagination. I bet some of the modern PR firms wish they could hire the likes of Confederates who put the spin on it all. What strikes me as unbelievable is how even I grew up on the Lost Cause in Pittsburgh in the 1980s. (Witness my sister’s infatuation with “Gone with the Wind” and the battle flag I hung from my bedroom ceiling!)

I won’t have time to make any cornbread, but might buy some to go with the pulled pork I cooked up!

“. . . cornbread has become known as something distinctly “Southron”, but appears to have origins with the Native People of what is now the southeastern U.S.”

Hey Robert – my wife descends (in part) from the “Native People of what is now the southeastern U.S” and most assuredly considers herself “Southron.” And she has several Confederate ancestors. Just to clarify . . . ;o)

Now, back to the cornbread . . . one of my daughters in law makes a VERY sweet cornbread. So sweet, in fact, that it almost tastes like cake. Everyone in the family loves it. I heard somewhere that the sweeter variety originated up North . . . ???

No I use the real stuff – off the shelf mind you, not churned. We used to use margarine. Several years ago I heard a Dr. on the radio discussing how terrible margarine was for you. According to this Doc, you can set a bowl of margarine outside in the woods and animals won’t touch it, but if you do the same w/butter, something will eventually eat the butter. Someone else told me that mold won’t even grow on margarine! Don’t know if that’s true, but based on other things I’d heard about butter subs, I came to the conclusion butter was much better for me. Tastes better too!

I heard another (Southern) comedian say that when he was growing up, no one ever heard about “cholesterol.” If they had, they’d just fried it anyway. ;o)

Miss Pomona was an African American woman who worked with, not for, my grandmother in a restaurant that my grandmother owned, after she ran a tobacco farm and before she ran a nursing home, as she brought up three children alone during the Depression.

Miss Pomona did more than make biscuits. She passed down many different legacies to the African American community, to the white community, and to that community that was somewhere in between and under the radar of Jim Crow–that community to which my grandmother, with whom I grew up and about whom I am still–still–as recently as three days ago, told stories about by members of the African American community who remember that place where white and black thumbed their noses at Jim Crow laws–belonged.

Cornbread is great made from buttermilk AND sugar.

Thank you Robert for all that you do, and also for your kind words on CWM. I don’t know if the Cherokee had anything to do with “inventing” cornbread. I do know a Cherokee woman now, though, who makes delicious fry bread at pow wows.

Here is one for you Robert Add a small can of corn dained and a can of Ro-tel drained to your mix along with a half stick of Velvetta Cheese cubed. My grandma calls it Mexican Cornbread. it is a nice change of pace and it great with Chilie.

Growing up in central Alabama in the forties corn bread was a basic food item wth me. When the hot corn bread came out of the ovenI would split a slice and add peanut butter and let it melt before eating. Our preacher told about a preacher friend of his that was in a local hospital with cancer and had only a few days to live. He told his wife to take him home and cook some corn bread and turnip greens and he would be fine. He lived for fifteen more years.

Don’t forget to serve the sweet tea with the cornbread! Yes, my mother used to make that in New Jersey when I was growing up. Don’t forget that the Mason Dixon line runs through South Jersey about where Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is, the original capitol of this great country was. Technically, I was raised in the South.